The Kidnapping
by portalkeeper
Summary: [Complete!!] The Animorphs finish a play and Marco gets kidnapped. Oh boy...
1. ONE

1.1.1 The Kidnapping  
  
  
  
By Portalkeeper87  
  
  
  
A/N: Someone set a challenge: no romances, no self-insertions, none of that, just a kidnapping involving Marco. Well, here it is!  
  
(Original title, no?)  
  
  
  
ONE  
  
MARCO is seen walking across street, whistling nonchalantly. He continues walking down the street as the sun sets and everyone disappears.  
  
Suddenly, a long black limousine is seen snaking down the street towards him. MARCO walks onward, oblivious, still crossing the impossibly long street.  
  
The limo stops right next to MARCO. MARCO still does not notice, until the door opens and a hand shoots out, grabbing MARCO's neck. MARCO starts to scream, but another hand clamps onto his mouth. MARCO is pulled inside the limo. The door shuts with a bang.  
  
The limo drives away. 


	2. TWO

1.1.1 The Kidnapping  
  
  
  
By Portalkeeper87  
  
  
  
  
  
TWO  
  
  
  
DIRECTOR: Lights, camera, action!  
  
JAKE: Ahem. (clears throat)  
  
CASSIE: (whispering) Jake, you're supposed to say ,'If you don't leave $2 million dollars by the post office.'  
  
JAKE: Oh, yeah. If you don't-wait, that's not my part!  
  
CASSIE: It's not?  
  
JAKE: No. (clears throat) Cassie, get everyone in the barn for a meeting.  
  
CASSIE: Why, Jake?  
  
JAKE: There's no time to explain. 


	3. THREE

1.1.1 The Kidnapping  
  
  
  
By Portalkeeper87  
  
  
  
  
  
THREE  
  
  
  
Scene fades to.  
  
RACHEL, CASSIE, TOBIAS, and AX are gathered in CASSIE's barn. RACHEL paces back and forth. TOBIAS is perched on rafters, acting as lookout. AX is standing by, and CASSIE is shoveling manure.  
  
CASSIE: Rachel, can you give me a hand?  
  
RACHEL stops pacing and glances at CASSIE, covered in horse manure.  
  
RACHEL: No.  
  
Silence.  
  
DIRECTOR: (off-stage) Where are those crickets???  
  
Silence.  
  
AX: They were quite.delicious.  
  
ALL: WHAT?!  
  
AX: Crispy, crunchy, and quite delicious with a coating of motor oil.  
  
DIRECTOR: YOU KILLED MY CRICKETS!!!!!  
  
DIRECTOR runs onstage and stabs AX with a knife. AX chops off the DIRECTOR's hand. SECURITY drags both of them away and STAGE CREW cleans up the spilt blood.  
  
CASSIE: Where did those people all come from?  
  
RACHEL: Were they Yeerks?  
  
STAGE CREW: No.  
  
SECURITY: (faintly, from offstage) No.  
  
DIRECTOR: (faintly) Get me more crickets!  
  
TOBIAS: Okay.  
  
Silence.  
  
Silence.  
  
Silence.  
  
Silence.  
  
Silence.  
  
Silence.  
  
Silence.  
  
Silence.  
  
Silence.  
  
Silence.  
  
Silence.  
  
Silence.  
  
Silence.  
  
Silence.  
  
JAKE suddenly walks in.  
  
RACHEL: What took you so long?  
  
JAKE ignores her.  
  
JAKE: (breathless) We have a problem.  
  
CASSIE: Come help me shovel this pile of manure.  
  
JAKE: In a moment, sweetheart. I have an important announcement to make.  
  
CASSIE: Kay.  
  
JAKE: (suddenly all breathless again, like he was just running) Mar-  
  
RACHEL: Hey, where's Marco?  
  
JAKE pulls out a dracon beam and shoots RACHEL on maximum setting. RACHEL sizzles and disappears.  
  
CASSIE: I never liked her much anyway.  
  
TOBIAS: Please go on, Jake.  
  
JAKE: Thank you. (takes deep breath) Marco's been kidnapped.  
  
The Barney theme song begins to play.  
  
DIRECTOR: (from offstage) It's supposed to be scary music, idiot! DIE!  
  
UNKNOWN VOICE: AHHHHHHH!  
  
Silence.  
  
Scary, ominous music begins to play. 


	4. FOUR

1.1.1 The Kidnapping  
  
  
  
By Portalkeeper87  
  
  
  
  
  
FOUR  
  
  
  
JAKE: I got a phone call this morning, saying that Visser Three has Marco.  
  
ALL: WHAT?!  
  
CASSIE: They know who we are?!  
  
JAKE: How could they know that?  
  
CASSIE shoots herself from the sheer dumbness on Jake's part.  
  
TOBIAS: Jake, if the Yeerks knew your phone number or infested Marco.  
  
JAKE: Oh, yeah.  
  
Silence.  
  
TOBIAS: Still no crickets?  
  
JAKE: Guess not. Anyway, I guess this means that we have to go rescue Marco. Come on, Animorphs, let's go forth to the Yeerk pool!  
  
Silence.  
  
TOBIAS: Uh, Jake? The others are dead. It's just us.  
  
JAKE: Oh. In that case, let's go save Marco! 


	5. FIVE

1.1.1 The Kidnapping  
  
  
  
By Portalkeeper87  
  
  
  
  
  
A/N: Sorry, I know it's really stupid so far, but my brain had ceased functioning as a result of the post-winter break syndrome. Hopefully the rest of this story won't be as pointless and nutty.  
  
  
  
FIVE  
  
  
  
MARCO is in a dark place, with a dim red light source. The sound of water dripping is in the background, which is slowly starting to make him go nuts. MARCO is tied up with a wet piece of rope.  
  
UNKNOWN VOICE: Mwahahaha!  
  
MARCO: Uh, who is that?  
  
UNKNOWN VOICE: It is I, Visser Three! Mwahahaha!  
  
MARCO: Uh-oh.  
  
Bright stadium lights suddenly turn on, illuminating the darkness. MARCO wishes they hadn't. Because now he can see where exactly he was.  
  
MARCO: Uh, nice torture chamber you have here.  
  
VISSER THREE: Yes, isn't it?  
  
He gestures toward the pile of mutilated, blood corpses and stacks of bones. MARCO looks at the blood-soaked rope he is tied up with and gulps.  
  
MARCO: Um, why exactly am I here?  
  
VISSER THREE: Hmm, let's see. I'm holding you for the ransom of one blue box. If I don't get it by noon tomorrow, well, let's just say I'm going to have some fun with you.  
  
MARCO: Did you tell my friends?  
  
VISSER THREE: I called that pathetic excuse for a human…Jake was his name, I think, but he hung up on me before I could tell him about the ransom.  
  
MARCO: What?!  
  
VISSER THREE: So I guess that's just –  
  
Crickets suddenly rain down from the ceiling.  
  
CRICKETS: Cricket, cricket.  
  
VISSER THREE: Get those crickets out of here!  
  
VISSER THREE lops the DIRECTOR's head off. The crickets scatter.  
  
VISSER THREE: That's much better. Now, where were we?  
  
Before he could say another word, an insane red-tailed hawk flies out of nowhere and tears VISSER THREE's stalk eyes apart. A Bengal tiger jumps toward MARCO and unties him. The Animorphs escape yet again! Hooray!  
  
The play ends, and the Animorphs celebrate at the post-play party. 


	6. SIX

1.1.1 The Kidnapping  
  
  
  
By Portalkeeper87  
  
  
  
  
  
A/N: Now, the REAL story (no longer in play format).  
  
  
  
SIX  
  
  
  
As the Animorphs cheer the end of that stupid, boring, not to mention pointless play, no one notices the two thugs lying in wait outside the building.  
  
Marco has to pick up a gallon of milk at Safeway, so he decides to leave early. Stepping outside, he hurries toward a deserted alley, ready to morph for fast transportation.  
  
Crouching behind an overturned Dumpster, Marco looked to his left and right, then concentrated on his osprey. Gray feathers had not yet began to appear on his arms when someone grabbed him from behind.  
  
Marco immediately returned all the way back to human form. The two aforementioned thugs tie him up securely and stuffs an oily, filthy rag into his mouth. Bound and gagged, Marco finally decide to morph. Too late, a sack is thrown over his head and he fades into blackness. 


	7. SEVEN

1.1.1 The Kidnapping  
  
  
  
By Portalkeeper87  
  
  
  
  
  
SEVEN  
  
  
  
Marco awoke, bound and gagged in a dark cellar. He looked at the two dark figures crouching nearby and rolls his eyes. Surely they must be from the play, here to play a prank.  
  
As his eyes slowly adjusted to the gloom, he frowned. He had never seen either of these people before. They definitely weren't part of the cast.  
  
So who were they?  
  
One of them crouched down and growled menacingly in Marco's face.  
  
"Listen buddy, we're hoping you'll fetch for a handsome price. If not, well…"  
  
His buddy snickered and pulled out a seven-inch knife. The blade glinted dully.  
  
"Mmph mmmph, mmph!" It was a real knife.  
  
This wasn't a joke.  
  
"Buddy, we're gonna send a ransom note to…" he craned his head to look at a tattered wallet in his hands. "To 25 Fox Run Dr. And you better hope we get the twenty grand tomorrow in the park."  
  
Marco stared, eyes wide. He couldn't morph here, in front of these guys! Maybe one of them was a Controller or might later babble to a Controller. He couldn't let them know he was anything other than a normal teenager.  
  
The guy with the knife smiled, showing crooked, broken teeth. "There's no reason why we can't have a little fun though…"  
  
He raised the knife and rammed it through Marco's left forearm.  
  
A muffled scream sound through the night, followed by many more. 


	8. EIGHT

1.1.1 The Kidnapping  
  
  
  
By Portalkeeper87  
  
  
  
  
  
EIGHT  
  
  
  
"Thank you for letting me know," I said into the phone. "Bye."  
  
I hung up and took a deep breath. That had been Marco's dad, Jeremy. He had received a ransom note after Marco had been missing for a whole day.  
  
Marco had been kidnapped. Really kidnapped, this time, and not by the Yeerks.  
  
I hurriedly dialed up the other Animorphs and scheduled a meeting at the barn. We needed to find him. Marco, with all his morphing abilities, should have been able to escape.  
  
So he was definitely in deep trouble.  
  
Arriving at the barn, I went inside to see the assorted Animorphs, minus Marco and Ax. The Director of our recent little play had some unfinished business with Ax.  
  
"What do we do now, Jake?" Rachel demanded.  
  
I wasn't completely sure, but I couldn't say that.  
  
"We know from the ransom note that the people holding him prisoner are expecting money tomorrow in the local park. The only possible place to hide Marco that's close enough to the park would have to be in the abandoned trailer park. So I guess that's our best bet. Tobias, Cassie? Scope out the area. Look for any signs of where Marco may be held."  
  
I paused and took a deep breath.  
  
"I think the reason why Marco has not already escaped is either he suspects the kidnappers to be Controllers or…or he isn't able to morph."  
  
The way to stop someone from morphing is to keep them knocked out. Or to kill them. 


	9. NINE

1.1.1 The Kidnapping  
  
  
  
By Portalkeeper87  
  
  
  
  
  
NINE  
  
  
  
Marco stared stonily into space. The two thugs around him, Joe and Grease, were trying to taunt him, anything for an excuse to have "fun". Marco tried to ignore them, but it was hard with the blood trickling down from his various wounds and the impending threat of even more.  
  
Marco! Marco, are you somewhere around here?  
  
Marco jerked upright and Joe and Grease narrowed their eyes.  
  
"Don't even try to escape," Grease warned.  
  
Marco didn't care. He recognized the voice! Jake was here, probably the others as well. But how to respond?  
  
"I thought I heard someone moving around outside," he tried, trying to appeal to the slightly slow thugs.  
  
"I'll go check," Grease said, getting up right away.  
  
Marco counted to 15 after he left and then said, "I'm hearing more noises, like maybe faint gunshots."  
  
He braced himself, wondering if Joe was dumb enough to go for it.  
  
Apparently he was.  
  
Two minutes later, a seagull flew out of an abandoned trailer and joined five birds of prey flying above. 


	10. TEN

1.1.1 The Kidnapping  
  
  
  
By Portalkeeper87  
  
  
  
  
  
TEN  
  
  
  
The next day, Marco had finally managed to pull himself away from his dad long enough to call a meeting in the food court.  
  
"So basically, that's what happened," Marco finished, just as Ax finished everyone's lunch.  
  
Suddenly he (Marco) froze.  
  
"That's them," he whispered, pointing at two dopey-looking guys eating nachos. "That's Joe and Grease."  
  
"Normally I would never suggest this," Cassie said slowly, "but I think we can have a little bit of 'fun.'"  
  
Rachel laughed a wild, dangerous laugh.  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
He was walking out of the mall with Grease, plotting their next "investment".  
  
"Excuse me," a voice said. Joe turned around and his face turned white, then red. How did you—"  
  
WHAMM!  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
Grease and Joe woke up, limbs numb from being bound. They felt something wet on their faces.  
  
Looking up, they saw a grizzly bear. And it was drooling.  
  
"AHHHH!"  
  
"AHHHH!"  
  
  
  
THE END. 


End file.
